Whims of the Goddess
by Phoenixmaster72
Summary: Memory loss isn't what one would expect upon waking up, but neither is following a wolf who decided to go out of her way to do every little thing she could under her own sun.
1. Awakening

You remember waking up to an unsettling feeling. It's dark, and you can hear the sound of wind howling all around you. You force your eyes to open, enough to see that the place you were in wasn't natural. All around you, the sky was a deep shade of red, black lines swirling about, pulling dust and large chunks of the land with them. Glancing behind gives you the sight of a withered tree, grey and looking like it could fall over from a strong enough push of the wind. You get up, searching for a reason as to why you woke up here.

Come to think of it, who were you anyways? You rack your brain for an answer, trying to recall what you were doing before all this, but nothing springs to your mind immediately. Taking another look around, you spot a giant peach hanging from one of the lower branches. It wriggles around, as if it were alive. Without warning you see some petals swirl past you, circling directly behind you. You hear a soft voice speak out to you.

"You... who are you?" The voice asks. You turn around to see a women, wearing a rather revealing robe, floating near you. You take a step back nervously.

"U-uh, I don't know who I am. My memory is one big blank." She raises an eyebrow, and you feel a drop of sweat roll down the side of your head. She nods after a moment, floating closer to you.

"It is surprising to see a human in the state the village is in. All others are currently being protected by my fruit, yet here you are." She points to the peach, doing a slow swirl around you.

"Protected? What do you mean?" You question, crossing your arms and tilting your head. She sighs, and tells you of recent events.

"There is a great demon, Orochi, who has been unsealed from his resting place, and now seeks to bring darkness to all of Nippon. It is just like the events that had occurred 100 years ago. Sensing this, I brought back the great goddess Amaterasu in hopes of her to save us in our time of need." She finishes with a glance to an open portal of glowing light that you had somehow missed.

"She should be back soon to cut the peach, freeing the villagers." You nod, listening to her story intently. Nippon? So that's the land you find yourself in. This Orochi guy sounds pretty menacing. You thank the woman for helping you out with information, and she smiles once more, before disappearing in a flourish of petals. Left alone, you think about all that you've learned thus far.

"Hmmm, so who's this Amaterasu?"

"Oh Miss Sakuya! We're back!" Turning around, you spot a bouncing green dot coming towards you, with a beautiful snow white wolf following behind. The green bug thing stops when it notices you in front of it, and you can make out what seems to be a person.

"Whoa! Who're you? Don't think I've seen you when we were here before." You realize the voice you had heard earlier had come from the tiny man, and you crouch down to see him better.

"Honestly, I'm trying to figure that out myself. I lost my memory, and this was the first thing I woke up to. Your guess is as good as mine." He hops up to your face, giving you a once over.

"Well you don't dress like anyone I've seen, that's for sure." He hops back over to the wolf, who was staring at the giant peach on the branch. You walk over, drawing the wolf's attention.

"Whose this? Friend of yours?" You ask,giving the wolf a pat on the head. It whines, moving closer to accept your petting.

"Really? You don't know who this is?" You shake your head. He gets up on the wolf's head, somehow glowing even brighter than he was before.

"This here's the great goddess Amaterasu! Oh, and I'm Issun, the Wandering Artist. Nice to meet you!" You blink, looking back at the wolf. This was Amaterasu? You give Issun a confused stare.

You take a closer look at the wolf. If you squint hard enough, you can see what looks to be crimson markings alongside her fur. Staring into her amber eyes, you get the feeling of a being that seems more than just an ordinary wolf. Shaking your head with a sigh, you stand up, giving one last pat to Amaterasu's head.

"Well, I'm not exactly in a position to argue, so I'll just go along with it. Anyways, what exactly is going on?" While you knew the general gist, it wouldn't hurt to get just a little more info on what the odd pair were doing. Issun filled you in with what the woman from earlier had already told you, just from their perspective. While doing this, Amaterasu swished her tail, still staring at the peach. And before you knew it, the stem had been cut and it crashed onto the ground.

A mystical power flowed past you, dragging bright green leaves from nowhere with it. It twisted and turned, bringing forth a well made path downward from where you were. You looked at it in awe, not believing what you had seen.

While it was still dark in the sky, it felt less cramped than the tiny island you were situated on. You turned to look back at Amaterasu, who just stared back while wagging her tail. You pointed at the trail, incredulous.

"Er, was that you?" You get a bark for a reply.

"Heh heh heh! That's just a taste of Ammy's power, you ain't seen nothing yet." Issun spoke excitedly. You shook your head, somehow figuring this wasn't the strangest thing that would happen to you in Nippon.

Following Amaterasu down the path, you came across a grey statue of a person with a pot on their head. Curiously, you give it a few taps with your knuckle.

"Eh? What's this statue doing here?" Issun said, staring at it as Amaterasu gave it a few pokes with her paw. "Whatever, we need to make sure the villagers are alright." With one last glance, you made your way further down.

When you reached the bottom, you were stunned at the sight before you. Just like with the statue before, there were plenty more, all eerily realistic and looking like they were doing something important. You spent a few moments going over to each statue, checking to see if any of them would react to your presence. Nothing.

"Something isn't right...where are all the people?" Issun mutters to himself. Before you could reply, a loud roar vibrated through the air. It sounded horrific, chilling you to the bone.

"What the heck was that?! This isn't right, something's going on here. C'mon you two, let's see if we can't get a better view of Kamiki!" Amaterasu rushes back the way you came, and you follow her. She turns right from the path leading back up to the tree, and it loops towards an outlook with a direct view of the tree. As you pant trying to catch your breath, Issun speaks up.

"This is REALLY bad, where's the sun? It's so dark out, too. Oh man, this isn't happening anywhere else is it?" While Issun continued muttering to himself, you took another look around. He wasn't wrong, the sky was unnaturally dark, even more than what would be usual. You glance back down at Amaterasu, who was staring intently at the sky.

"Think you can do anything about this?" When you glanced back up at the sky, a bright ray of sunlight assaulted your eyes, forcing you to close them. When you opened them back up, the sky was a clear shade of blue, and the wind blew in a few leaves from seemingly nowhere.

"Wow! The sun's back. Hold on, now that I think about it, didn't Miss Sakuya say something about you being the sun goddess Ammy?" You look back down at Amaterasu, who was giving you a happy wag of her tail.

"Huh, guess that's why the sun came back, good job Amaterasu." The wolf leaned into your hand as you crouched down and petted her head.

"Man, never thought I could see Sunrise in action!" Issun bounced up and down rather giddily. You raised an eyebrow.

"Sunrise? What do you mean?" Issun stops bouncing, and turns his head towards you.

"Oh right, I forgot about your memory problem. Well, here in Nippon there are thirteen brush gods, each with a specific technique they use to do a whole bunch of cool stuff. Take Ammy for example! Her power let's her call for daylight whenever she wants!" He finishes his explanation with a flourish of his arms. You look at Amaterasu, smiling.

"You're really something, huh?" Amaterasu just barked back as a reply.

"Hm? Who are you two?" You turn around to see an elderly man with a cane walking towards you. Looking at his head, he has an orange on it. You shorten the distance between him to save the man from walking further.

"A white wolf?! You couldn't be the same one who fought alongside Nagi, could you?" He shakes his head, and turns to you.

"I don't think we've met before. I'm , and you?" Suddenly the orange made a lot more sense. You shook his hand.

"It's nice to meet you, my name is...uh…" Shoot, you forgot that you didn't have one technically! Before you could muster up a reply, Amaterasu had begun to growl. You had felt it later than Amaterasu, but the wind had suddenly become much colder, and the leaves darkened until they looked like they were burnt. Looking around, you spotted what had made your white furred companion growl. Three hideous green monsters were overlooking you from atop a cliff, each wearing some kind of paper mask.

"Here they come furball. These must be the monsters responsible for the troubles in the village!" All at once, the three monster leaped towards you. Amaterasu reacted first, pulling and using him as a makeshift bat to whack them away. She throws him in another direction, then leaps to meet the monsters. Unfortunately, you ended up getting caught in the middle, and with a weird red barrier blocking any attempts at escaping, you'd have to fight them.

Apparently they noticed too, because you suddenly found yourself getting pelted by bamboo flutes. While they didn't scratch you, they certainly hurt! Luckily for you, Amaterasu used the opportunity of you being bait to quickly defeat all of the monsters.

When it was over, a flourish of green energy wrapped around a spot not far from where you were, transforming it into a small pond. Afterwards, some glowing orbs shot out and went into Amaterasu.

"Wow, look at the pond now! Hey wait, you got some praise from that! Still, it is a bit concerning how the monsters managed to get this far into the village. Maybe we should go check it out now that we freed Kamiki!" Issun proudly states. Amaterasu begins to walk back down the path, looking back at you as if asking you to follow. After a brief moment of checking yourself over, you nod, and follow her down the path.

Waking up in a foreign land with even stranger people is not exactly how you thought your day would go. Neither is losing your memory. But somehow, you get the feeling that this was just the start of something even worse.

**Ending image of (?) and Amaterasu overlooking the Guardian Tree**


	2. Village Errands

"So, what was your record again?"

"Hayabusa managed to get nine of mom's turnips before we got caught, let's see your pet do better than that!" You shake your head as you watch Amaterasu try and fail to nab the last turnip. Turning back to you with a whine, she trots over, sitting down with a huff. You give her a wry smile.

"Not that easy, huh?" The wolf merely huffs at you, letting her head drop onto her paws. You laugh, giving her a quick pet on the head before standing up.

"Maybe you could come back to this later? There's still a lot more to explore around here." Amaterasu adopts a look of contemplation on her face, before nodding and standing up as well. Taking a walk around the village brings you to a little pier out near the river. There, you spot an elderly woman washing some clothes in a bin. She seems to be missing something however, and you move over to help.

"Excuse me, do you need any help with all this?" You ask, pointing to the pile of laundry waiting to be washed. She turns, startled at the sound of your voice, but gives you a polite smile.

"Oh! I didn't see you there dearie! If you wouldn't mind actually, could you find me a new drying pole? I'm afraid my old one broke after being in use for so long." With a nod, you look around for anything that could possibly be used as a drying pole. You catch out of the corner of your eye Amaterasu looking at the two sticks where the pole would usually be. Before you could even blink, a brand new pole appeared right in front of you! You stared at it with wide eyes, hearing someone chuckle.

"Heh heh! That's _Rejuvenation_ for ya!" You see Issun bouncing on Amaterasu's back, green light glowing just a bit brighter. You give Issun a look.

"Rejuvenation? Another brush technique I'm guessing?" Amaterasu barked, wagging her tail. You give her another pat, turning back over to the lady.

"Here you go ma'am, one brand new pole for laundry."

"Oh thank you ever so much! Now all we need is some good ol' sunlight!" You peek at the sky. It was already pretty bright.

"We need more?"

"Yes, there isn't any wind you see, so a brighter sun will-" She's cut off by the sun getting much closer, and one of the rays beams directly down at the drying laundry.

"YAHOO!" She yells, jumping in the air. She gives the two of you a wide grin, one that you return.

"Thank you ever so much for the help sonny. Tell you what, come by my house later tonight and I'll make you and your wolf friend some of my famous cherry cakes!" She beams at you. You nod, waving goodbye to her and returning to the middle of the village. Issun bounces happily at the thought of food.

"Oh man, 's cherry cakes are delicious! Let's make sure to grab some before we leave Kamiki!" Amaterasu barks at the notion, looking off towards one of the houses nestled near the river. You turn your head, noting the water wheel that is attached, seeing it in a broken state.

"Oh, hello there!" A voice greets you. You spot a woman walking towards the two of you, waving you over. You wave back, waiting for her to come closer.

"Hey Kushi! How's the rice fields today?" Issun pipes up, as she leans down to pet Amaterasu, who revels in the affection.

"Oh, Issun! I haven't seen you in some time. The rice fields are fine, it's the water wheel that I'm concerned about…" She says, ceasing in her pets. You give the wheel another look, and ask why it's so important. She turns her head as she speaks.

"Oh, well I need the wheel to be spinning in order to make my special sake. The one-hundred year festival is coming up soon, and its tradition to make sake whenever we celebrate!"

You mull over the info she gives you, seeing Amaterasu pad over to the wheel. Not knowing if Kushi would freak out over the sight of the wheel repairing itself, you quickly distract her as you hear the sound of Amaterasu painting the missing parts back into existence.

With a heavy creak, the wheel begins to turn again, drawing Kushi's attention away from you.

"Oh! Who could've repaired the wheel?" She says, walking over to the wheel. You shrug, discreetly giving Amaterasu a thumbs up. Kushi smiles, turning to speak to you again.

"Well no matter, now that the wheel is repaired, I can get back to making saké! Come by soon you three!" She waves you goodbye, and heads inside of her house.

You sigh, causing Amaterasu to look up at you with a questioning look. You give her a smile.

"It's nothing, just feeling a little left out. Feels like I'm just tagging along for the ride you know?" You say, rubbing the back of your head sheepishly. Amaterasu whines, giving your hand a nudge and licking it. You shake your head, rubbing her head idly.

"Hey, don't go pitying me already. I'll be fine, promise. Come on, let's see if we can't break that turnip record." Amaterasu barks happily, running off ahead of you as you sprint to catch up to her.

'_Memories can wait I guess, let's just see what I can do now.'_

**Image of ? and Amaterasu sitting near a fire pit, eating Cherry cakes.**

"W-what?! That's the oddly-shaped turnip me an' Hayabusa have been trying to get for ages! That can only mean… You broke our record!" The boy shouts in disbelief. You laugh, giving Amaterasu a few pats on the head. She takes it in stride, giving off an aura of smugness. As you walk away from the boy and dog, you turn to look at Amaterasu.

"So, what do we do now?" The goddess swishes her tail, looking across the village. She pads over to the one place you hadn't visited yet. It was a simple wooden house. Well, more like a shack, really. You could hear a loud snoring sound coming from within.

"Geez…guess some people aren't much of an early riser." You hear Issun complain as you step inside the house. Whoever lived here clearly loved their drink, as you could see a few bottles lying on the floor, all emptied of their contents. You didn't see who was making the snoring though. Amaterasu padded towards the large pot near the back of the house, sniffing it curiously. Suddenly, she reared back slightly, then charged forward, breaking the pot and revealing a hidden entrance!

She quickly leapt down, forcing you to scramble down the ladder placed on it. When you set your foot onto solid ground again, the goddess was already at the bottom, prodding at someone who was sleeping soundly, and also the source of all the snoring. You pushed her away lightly as you inspected the sleeping man more closely. He was dressed odd, even by the standards you've seen so far. A purple sleeveless vest was all he wore, along with an orange sash tied around his waist. Giving him a few pokes yourself, he simply grumbles and flips away from your prodding.

"Guess he's a heavy sleeper…"

"No kiddin'. Hey, let's wake this guy up, Ammy!" With a bark of agreement, the wolf proceeded to headbutt the man, startling him awake. You took a few steps back as he stretched, letting out a yawn.

"Ahhh...that was a great nap! I planned to spend some time down here in order to meditate but…" he finally takes notice of you and Amaterasu. "Hmm? Who are you two? And what do you want with Susano, the greatest warrior who ever lived?" You and Amaterasu shared a look. Yes, greatest...warrior. Susano coughs into his fist. "I'm not looking for apprentices at the moment, so I'm afraid you and your canine companion will have to leave me be for the day!" He turns around and lies back down. Issun scoffs.

"Get a load of this guy! Quit messin' around and come with us!" At Issun's demand, Susano sits back up.

"You again?! Quit bugging me you…you...bug!" Issun turns red at that, bouncing rapidly.

"How many times do I gotta say it, I'm not a bug! Come on Ammy, let's just get this guy over to the boulder." Amaterasu agrees, judging by the sight that appears before you in a split second.

"Wh-what are you doing?! Put me down this instant! What will the neighbors think?!" He turns to you. "Don't tell me you're gonna let this go by!" You just smile and wave as you follow Amaterasu out of Susano's house.

_**Image of ? chasing Amaterasu and Susano around the village.**_

"You mangy mutt! Did you two bring me here just to challenge me to a fight! Well then you'd best be prepared. I won't go easy on you two. With my trusty sword...Tohenboku!" The merchant standing near you suddenly speaks up.

"W-wait! You're Susano, right? The greatest warrior who ever lived?" Susano nods happily.

"Yep! That's me! And by the way, never interrupt a fight between warriors!" You, Amaterasu, and the merchant all exchanged looks.

"Well, in that case, I'd like to ask you a favor. See," he points to the massive boulder blocking the path, "There's this boulder that's blocking the path out of the village, and I figured you'd be able to help bust it down!" Susano, for all his boasting, suddenly looks pale.

"Oh. W-well…"

"Oh come on, you're a descendant of Nagi, right? Surely one boulder's no match for you!" Susano huffs.

"Of course not! But even a boulder like this will require intensive training in order to magnify the power of my sword! Wait right here, I'll be back before you know it!" With that, he rushes back to his house, passing the door and out into the little field behind it. Issun hums.

"Y'know...I don't think I've seen that guy train seriously...like ever." As Amaterasu rushes off to check on Susano, you take the time to talk to the merchant.

"So, what do you sell here?" He grins, pulling on his backpack and laying out a carpet with assorted goods.

"I'm glad you asked!"

_**Image of ? and the Merchant arguing prices.**_

You find yourself idly standing on the bridge across the river when you hear the tell-tale sound of paws coming your way. Turning your head, you see Amaterasu running up to you with something in her mouth.

"What's that you got there?"

"Heh heh, this thing here's gonna get Susano off his lazy butt and do something about that boulder!" You take the item from Amaterasu, looking at the label on it.

"Vista of the gods?"

"It's his favorite drink, Sake!" You recalled that you did see a lot of similar looking bottles around Susano's house...right, guess you'll give this to him. Amaterasu hurries on ahead as you wander back over to where Susano is, lying on the ground and constantly checking a now long emptied bottle of sake. He perks up as you get close enough for him to grab the bottle out of your hands.

"Fido, is this…?"

"Yeah, it's sake. Kushi says you deserved it for all the hard work you do." You hear Amaterasu huff behind you at your lie.

"W-well! If Kushi says it then I'll just have to make sure to pay her back later!" He glugs it down with gusto, finishing it quickly and tossing it away. "Ahhh, much better! Now," he looks out at the field of dummies, focusing on one of them, "I'll just start with my usual routine for warm up." He crouches down low, one hand on his sword. Then he quickly slides forward, swinging outwards once. You briefly see a straight line materialize on the dummy before it gets cut the exact way the line showed. Susano continues on, slicing the next dummy with the same results. You spot Amaterasu's tail swishing each time the cut connects.

"You're helping him, aren't you?" The bark you get confirms it.

"Feast your eyes on this! Susano style...Exploding implosion!" He makes a vertical cut down a solid chunk of iron rock, and after a second, cuts it clean in half. Susano looks at his sword perplexed, then charges toward the boulder blocking the village. You and Amaterasu follow behind him. You watch as he repeats his special move, and cuts right across the boulder. A quick swipe of the tail, and the boulder is sliced in half. The merchant looks on in shock and awe.

"Amazing! That boulder didn't stand a chance!"

"Good going pops! I didn't think you had it in ya!"

"...Me neither." Susano mumbles, then turns around and coughs nonchalantly. "Er...I mean, of course! Nothing can beat Susano! Now, I shall be off to slay some demons as a reward to myself!" He says, before running off laughing.

"Well, that was...something." You said as you watched the man disappear into the horizon.

"Wonder if he'll be okay. The monsters outside the village are nasty!" You nodded, before a breeze sent cherry blossoms fluttering past you. You turn around to find Sakuya floating high above.

"Ah, great Amaterasu...What a sight to behold your heroic deeds! When you cleaved that boulder in two my heart skipped a beat! To see your skill with the brush in action is nothing short of divine intervention!"

"Yeah, so do we get a reward or something?" Sakuya huffs at Issun.

"I hardly think your participation merits a reward, little bug."

"It's Issun! Issun,Issun,Issun! How many times do I gotta tell you?! I'll crawl back into your kimono if you call me that again!" Your mouth gapes at Issun's threat.

"My word!" Seems Sakuya shares your sentiments.

"Bah, I'm only joking lady. Still, it'd be nice to get some form of compensation." Sakuya sighs.

"My apologies, though I dearly wish to give you a reward, I simply don't have the strength to do so. In fact, I can barely make a single flower bloom." She demonstrates this by holding up a hand and letting a single cherry blossom bloom, before it quickly wilts.

"So, what can we do about that?" You ask, hearing Amaterasu yawn in the background.

"Though my body is tied to this village, my roots have spread far and wide across Nippon. Seek the giant Guardian saplings and free them from the curse that binds them. Doing so will slowly purify the lands, given enough time." Then she points towards the tree. "As you can see, my tree has yet to bloom, and thus, can hardly linger for long." As she says this, she starts to slowly vanish. "Oh Amaterasu, may the fresh scent of flowers protect you always!"

"Bah...always something wrong with the world. I'm up for a fight as much as the next guy, but I don't wanna spend forever kicking demon butt for good! Least I've got Ammy…" Issun says, hopping back up on Amaterasu's back. The goddess yawns, stretching and shaking the sleepiness away. "What about you? You coming with us or what?" You shrug.

"Don't know. If what you say is true, then I'm not going to be much help without some kind of weapon to defend myself with."

"Well, if it's a weapon you need, I know a guy that has too many of those." Issun says coyly. And just like that, you find yourself back in Susano's home, finding a sword that you can comfortably use. After a few swings with them, you settle on a decently sized steel sword. Giving it a few swings, you find that your body seems to know how to use it already. Like you've used one in the past. Nodding approvingly, you strap it to your right side with a belt you swipe from one of Susano's drawers, promising to return it when you can.

"Alright, now that that's settled with, let's get going!" Amaterasu barks in agreement, and takes a step outside the house.

The sudden cawing of a crow draws your attention, and you all stop as you realize how late it's become. The sun is just beginning to dip below the horizon, blanketing the village in a shade of orange.

"Maybe we should set out tomorrow. It might be more dangerous at night." You say, hearing Amaterasu whine.

"As much as I hate to admit it, he's got a point Ammy. We can wait till tomorrow, right?" You see the wolf's tail twitch slightly.

"Don't even think about using Sunrise."

_Whine…_

**_Ending image of ? and Amaterasu resting underneath Konohana, with Sakuya gazing fondly._**


End file.
